Captain's Guilt
by B.L.A. the Mouse
Summary: Harper's on Med deck and Beka can't sleep.


Summary: Harper's on Med deck and Beka can't sleep.

Pairings: Beka/Tyr

Disclaimer: Tribune owns all rights to Andromeda. I just borrowed it for use here.

Rating: PG

Spoilers: None

Setting: Late second season.

Feedback: Please! Praise and constructive criticism welcome. Flames will be used to de-ice a sidewalk.

Archive: Ask first and I'll probably say yes.

Author's Note: I don't usually write stories with Harper as a whumpee, but the images in this one just showed up and stayed until I wrote it.

 **Captain's Guilt**

 **By B.L.A. the Mouse**

Med deck was silent and still, a fact that surprised Beka. Usually when one of them was being treated, Trance or at least Rommie were around, checking on their patient or just finding things to do in the proximity just in case. She looked around for some sign of a presence other than Harper's; it took a moment for the pile of discarded blankets on the other bed to resolve into a single blanket wrapped around a person, a few thin red braids trailing out from under a fold and over the edge of the bed. The realization helped; if Trance was here but asleep, then Harper must be out of the woods or at least not on the very verge of death anymore.

Not wanting to wake her, given how often she actually did sleep, Beka didn't move toward Trance or speak, despite how much she wanted to know about Harper's condition. Instead she crossed to the center of the room, setting her feet down deliberately quietly until she was next to Harper's bed. His color was better now than when she'd left for the night, and his lips were no longer the same shade of blue as the patient gown he wore. Even his breathing had improved, from shallow gasps to deep, even breaths that didn't hurt to hear. She took a deep breath of her own in relief. Trance had said that the lung injury would be healed by morning, but Beka worried sometimes, and it wasn't helped by the heaping dose of guilt. It was probably warrantless, given that if she hadn't been the one piloting it probably would have been worse, but telling that to her conscience made no difference.

Just to make sure that he was okay, she checked the monitor next to the bed, which confirmed the conclusions she'd already drawn: Harper would be fine. He was even sleeping now, instead of the true unconsciousness of earlier. "So," she murmured, looking back at him, "we just need you to wake up so we can confirm that the oxygen deprivation didn't damage your brain more than it already is." It probably hadn't— Trance had told her that earlier and the display corroborated it now— but again, she worried.

Just then a quiet voice behind her said, "What you need is to sleep."

Beka jumped and barely stifled a yelp. She grimaced before she turned around. "I'm sorry. I thought you were asleep." At least, he'd seemed that way a few minutes before when she'd given up on it herself and slipped out of bed.

"I sleep lightly." The reminder was unnecessary, but then again Tyr didn't look like he was entirely awake yet. Not surprising, really, given that the two of them at least had gone to bed a few hours before and after a long, hard day for all of them. He must have followed her immediately after she'd left their quarters; she'd stopped to push her feet into boots, but he hadn't even done that, his feet bare and his forearms without his customary gauntlets. The only thing he had on was the pair of shorts he'd worn to bed. She got another, smaller twinge of guilt, this time over his sleep being interrupted, as he pushed the tangled braids away from his face with one hand.

"I wanted to see how he was," she explained. It was probably unnecessary, especially given that as Tyr walked towards her he looked searchingly at Harper. "I figured I might as well check, since I wasn't getting any sleep."

Tyr nodded, still studying Harper. "And?"

"He'll be okay. Theoretically. As he ever is."

He must have accepted the assessment, but did not acknowledge the comment other than to look back up to Beka, "And you?"

"Hey, I'm fine. I'm not the one who nearly died." She said it lightly but still felt the weight of the words.

"And yet here you are on Med deck rather than in our bed."

He was studying her like he expected her to break down or something. She shrugged, not sure what else to do or how else she should be reacting, in his mind. "My friend and my engineer, and it was my idea that put him here. Captain's guilt."

Another step forward and Tyr was near enough to touch, pressing one hand to the side of her neck. The support implied in the gesture got to her, and she swallowed hard before closing the distance between them. He stiffened for a moment in surprise when she wrapped her arms around his waist, neither of them prone to a hug at all, but then completed the embrace with his own arms at her shoulders. She leaned her cheek against his chest and took a deep breath. Some of the tension— by no means all, but some small significant amount— seeped away at the warmth of his skin and the realization that at least one of the crew did not blame her for events of the day before. They stood like that for long minutes; she took comfort in it and suspected that he did, as well.

And then a third voice behind her croaked, "Get a room, guys."

"Harper!" Beka let go of Tyr, his hands barely dropping away in time as she spun to see Harper raise one hand to probe gently at the spot on his chest where he'd been speared.

Even as he did, Trance rolled off the other bed and shed the blanket as she did, apparently roused by Beka's shout. Immediately she grabbed a scanner and started checking Harper over, scolding him as she did for disturbing the injury. "It needs to finish healing, and if you disturb the bandage…"

Beka grinned at Harper's protests, feeble but sounding otherwise like his usual self. While Trance scanned him again, the two argued over him poking at the bandage, changing the gown, even getting up and checking the repairs that everyone else had already started on the night before and Beka assured him were being done correctly, until Trance finally put down the scanner and pronounced Harper officially on the mend, though he was on bed rest for the remainder of the night and all the next day and under strict orders not to touch the dressing until she removed it herself. He grumbled but eventually acquiesced under her stern gaze.

Beka stood through all of it, watching the drama and feeling Tyr at her back the whole time. At last Trance told Harper that she'd leave him alone for the rest of the night, but if he dared leave the bed for longer than a minute Rommie would call her back. Relieved at last, at the pronouncement and at Harper's eye roll, Beka reached back for Tyr's hand and squeezed it before saying, "Funny thing. I suddenly feel like I could sleep."

 **The End**


End file.
